The six biggest local winners from the Stellar Construction boys tournament

We now, thankfully, have a three-day break between high school basketball tournaments.

For a preview of the SportsFest basketball tournament, watch Service Electric TV2 at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday.

But before we turn the page and look ahead, let's look back at the Stellar tournament. Even though there was not a local team in the championship game, there were several Lehigh Valley-area teams that played well, and some won enough to stay around deep into Sunday.

To me, the six biggest local winners were:

Allen

Coming off last season, no one knew what to expect this summer from the Canaries. But it has been a long time, maybe since the District 11 title win in 2011, that I've seen Doug Snyder so happy. He really likes these kids and really was pleased with how they competed all weekend.

After routing the Nazareth JVs and Catasauqua for its first two wins, Allen lost an overtime thriller to eventual champion Wilson West Lawn before the rain came on Saturday night.

The Canaries bounced back with four wins on Sunday before losing to Central Catholic 58-47 in the quarterfinals.

"It was a wonderful weekend," Snyder said. "I said to my wife when I left the house at 7 o'clock this morning that I expected to be home around 10 to cut the grass. But we ended up playing five games and were here all day. And remember, the one loss we had on Saturday was to Wilson and they wound up beating Central and winning the tournament.

"We made it to the final six. The big names in our league are still Parkland, Central Catholic and Liberty, too, but we had a wonderful run. We have chemistry, good shooting and ballhandling. We're not overly big, but we have very solid guard play."

He was even pleased with the effort against CCHS.

"We had three or four guys who had cramps and I just kept them out," he said. "Central was a little more rested than us."

A couple more things about Allen. When listing new coaches the other day, I forgot to write that Randy Atiyeh is the new freshman coach. He replaces Justin Ruppelli, who moved up to JV coach.

Also, Dave Peters is a Pocono Mountain graduate who played for Brad Pensyl, not Bron Holland. When Peters was a Cardinal, there was just one PM school. He later was an assistant coach with Holland at PM East, however.

Bethlehem Catholic

The Golden Hawks created a lot of excitement by being one of the last two local teams undefeated entering play on Sunday. Among Becahi's wins in its 3-0 tourney start was an impressive 60-48 victory over city rival Liberty.

Things didn't go as well on Sunday with the Golden Hawks losing to CCHS in front of a large crowd on Court 1 and then were taken out by Allen.

Still, just getting to Sunday was a step forward for Mike Frew's program and with Freddie Simmons emerging as one of the more dynamic offensive players in the LVC, Becahi just might challenge its Bethlehem neighbors and Easton in the LVC East next winter.

Bangor

The defending Colonial League champion Slaters won three games before being ousted by Parkland at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Bangor graduated an all-area player in Alex Colton, but have enough good kids coming back to stay among the elite in the Colonial League. And it's looking like rising senior Jeremy Ringland is headed for a big year.

Central Catholic

The Vikings are going to be the favorite to win the Lehigh Valley Conference title and the District 11 3A gold next winter and nothing that happened this weekend diminished those expectations.

Remember, the Vikings (right) made it to the final four without a three-time all-stater and The Morning Call's player of the year.

Muhammad Ali Abdur-Rahkman was in a major AAU tourney in Augusta, Ga. I'd still like to see how all the pieces are going to fit come wintertime, but this is a talented and deep basketball team that just might be able to go on a long run in the state tournament next March.

Lehighton

The Indians (in action below) had just one win in the tournament and it was over a JV team. However, they could have, and according to many, should have, defeated both Liberty and Pocono Mountain West on Saturday. Instead, they lost by three to Liberty and by one to Pocono Mountain West. Expect Lehighton to be one of the best teams in the MVC this season, their final year in the league. And give credit to Rich Oertner for making this program respectable again.

Pius X

The Royals are just a Class A program, but showed they can compete with the big boys by reaching the final eight. Eric Marbury, Lyndon Ewing and Ryan Keller, among others, can play in any classification. Pius X squandered an eight-point lead to Parkland in a "final eight" game. The Crusaders lost to Mahanoy Area 57-55 in the district finals last year, but right now it's hard to imagine the Royals being denied in districts next season.

Current Comments

I'm glad that the stellar girls did not make that list because they were not 'stellar' this year

And btw, those awards are a joke!

Posted By: Dan the man | Jul 15, 2013 4:11:26 PM

It was suffocatingly hot yesterday and the players really competed heroically in the heat!! There were some really good games and some great competition.

The Parkland/Pius game was a great one!! Kudos to Pius X who played played 4 games in that heat with only 7 players!! Lyndon Ewing was really a force all weekend and Eric Marbury had some great games! Nick Rindock and Jimmy Hahn put Parkland on their backs in the 2nd half against Pius after Justin Zajko went down...a great effort by those two!

All in all a great tournament!!

Posted By: GoPius | Jul 15, 2013 4:22:45 PM

Personally I think the tournament is too watered down and it's going old. It's time to switch to pool play and the heat and too any games will be a non-factor. Oh that's right, they are too good to change the format and do that.

Truth be told the tournament is not about the kids. It's about the big party atmosphere for the staff.

Posted By: George P | Jul 15, 2013 4:48:06 PM

this is the most bias and one sided article i have ever read. the disrespect shown to Pius X is very disturbing. those kids played their hearts out and with only seven player and got one line in this whole artick. way to go Ptoius, kept your heada up your rewards will come in the form of states championship

Posted By: natalie | Jul 15, 2013 9:27:03 PM

The article was very complimentary to Pius & the Pius players! The whole thrust was that Pius had a great showing. They did relinquish an 8 pt lead in the Parkland game & lost in OT but overall it was a tremendous showing!! A Class A team winning 3 games on the last day @ Stellar & making the final eight?!! Unheard!! As a Pius fan, I am so proud of the coaches & players! As Keith Groller concluded, you have to believe that this weekend will pay huge dividends for Pius in the season to come!!

Posted By: GoPius | Jul 15, 2013 9:45:55 PM

Keith, little surprised Parkland didn't get in your 6 teams chosen. They did the "let's show up in the 2nd half" too many times not playing the full 40 minutes (granted with the weather conditions). They played their butts off even with players down due to cramps and Cross's medical situation. Parkland had no gas for Wilson West Lawn. I would like to see them both play at 100% and see what the result would be. Allen was convincing all day (taking all 3 Bethlehem schools out back-to-back-to-back), Becahi was impressive. Mike's got a good team and Ed Ohlson Sr. on their coaching staff. Have an interesting draw of teams for SportsFest (Cardinal O Hara, Phillipsburg and Nazareth of Brooklyn). Could make it to the 16 on Sunday. And they'll make districts again in 2014. Bangor will always give 150% no matter whom is playing for them. They're a tough team to go against. Central is scary now. It'll get more scary when Abdur-Rahkman is added to the mix. They're set to go places this winter. Lehighton is crazy better than they're EVER been. Amazaing how Rich Oertner comes into a program in the 1st year and gets them qualified for districts. Today's America is that everyone deserves a second chance for their mistakes. Rich messed up but is getting reaceepted back in the basketball community (and with me). I will aplogize for the Piux X fans that I do not know much of your program but the showing you did this weekend did make people watch. Can't wait for Thursday and SportsFest!!! See what happens then. ROLL OUT!!!!

Posted By: autobotrule | Jul 16, 2013 9:44:53 AM

Had the list been extended to seven, Parkland would have been No. 7 no doubt. With Parkland, the expectations are extremely high with many key players back from a District 11 4A title squad and tremendous JV and freshman teams. This list was more about people exceeding expectations this past weekend. Frankly, Parkland will have a hard time exceeding expectations because the bar (as usual) is set very high for them. Their resiliency on Sunday was impressive, but I thought among local LVC teams CCHS was just a little more impressive throughout the entire weekend.

Posted By: Keith Groller | Jul 16, 2013 10:17:33 AM

I love Stellar weekend. If you love HS basketball this is one of the best weekends of the year. Having spent way too much time there, there were many teams that deserve mention. Parkland kids are the most reilient team I have seen. Prior to cramping they were down in several games and fought back. First time seeing Pius and they lived up to billing. Pius can compete with the big boys. Allen has a lot of talented players. If they buy in to coach Snyders system and figure out its we not me, they will be in the hunt come winter. CCHS was deepest team and will be among top 3 teams this winter. CCHS dominated by a few big name, talented players but are surrounded by very good players. Getting to semis without Rhakman says it all. Becahi looked better than I expected and will be competitive. Too many others to tak about, bring on Sportsfest.

Posted By: BBallLover | Jul 16, 2013 11:10:03 AM

Pius X? Yawn. Enjoy those Philly Public Leaguers come PIAA playoff time. Hey at least nobody will be falling over at this weeks tournament. Think those guys are on to something with the pool play format? I do.

Posted By: Joey Buttafucco | Jul 16, 2013 12:30:40 PM

Pius will be looking forward to playing Philly schools during States because that would mean they made it out of Districts! Playing the best competition is what it is all about!

I think ACCHS can make a real run @ a State Championship!! I could see teams like Parkland, and ND Green Pond going on a run in the States as well.